Dog Sitter's Log
by Linen Tartaruga
Summary: “Would you like to take care of Black Hayate until I return, Alphonse?”
1. Prologue

**Title: Dog Sitter's Log  
Summary: **"Would you like to take care of Black Hayate until I return, Alphonse?"  
**Characters: **Alphonse, Black Hayate, Edward, with bits of Roy and Riza.  
**Disclaimer: **If I owned FMA, then I wouldn't be poor and this wouldn't be a fanfic.  
**Rating: **G/K  
**Warnings: **First Person POV for several chapters, post-series, possible spoilers for the series, pretty vague hints at Ed/Roy/Al, you could really ignore it if you wanted to.

* * *

"How long will you be gone?"

"The Major General and I will return from East City in one week."

"Oh," Alphonse blinked at the older blonde standing guard over the Major General's shoulder as he worked, "You're going with him, Colonel Hawkeye?"

"Of course she is. You don't think they'd actually trust Mustang over there by himself!"

Three pairs of eyes darted to the only other blonde in the room, who'd been silent and crouched over his desk a moment ago.

"Brother," Alphonse chided almost affectionately, rolling his eyes as Edward bent back to his work with a satisfied smirk on his face. "So," the youngest blonde continued, turning back to Mustang and Hawkeye curiously, "If you're both going to be out of town for that long, who's going to be in charge here?"

Roy took in a breath as if about to speak but, not for the first time that afternoon, Riza answered instead, allowing him to (begrudgingly) continue to work.

"Your brother is the next in command and, therefore, will be taking over the Major General's responsibilities in his absence."

"Really? You're leaving _Brother_ in charge of everything?"

Alphonse didn't have to turn around to see the scowl on Edward's face, as if he couldn't imagine where his little brother would get the idea that he wasn't trustworthy enough to take over for _Mustang_. Nor did he have to be looking at Mustang to see the smirk on his face as he finally got a word in before Hawkeye could cut him off.

"Yes, well, we don't have much other choice, do we? He _is_ the next highest ranking officer under my command. It will only be seven days, after all; FullMetal couldn't possibly get into _that_ much trouble in so short a time." The man's gaze turned abruptly to the eldest brother, dark eyes dancing all the more as he was glared at, "And don't worry, Alphonse, if anything _does _manage to go wrong, we'll simply dock FullMetal's pay until the damages have been repaired; however long that may take."

Choosing diplomacy, the youngest in the room quickly diverted the topic to something else before his older brother could react to the statement. "So, Colonel Hawkeye," he piped up, cheerfulness obviously forced into his tone and smile, "What about Black Hayate? Have you found someone to take care of him while you're away?"

"Unfortunately, I haven't," the woman replied, keeping an eye on the Major General just in case he decided that smirking at Edward Elric was more important than his paperwork. "The only person willing to watch him was Cain, however he lives in the Military Dormitories which forbid pets, and I am uncomfortable leaving Black Hayate alone."

This news was enough to make Alphonse completely forget about the previous conversation. "But if you can't find anyone," he asked, sliding off of the edge of his brother's desk where he'd been sitting, "What will you do with him? You can't just leave him alone for that long."

"I don't intend to," Riza replied, a bit sharply. "I have no choice but to send him to a kennel until we return."

"A kennel?" The desperation in the younger Elric's voice and the truly pained expression on his face would have anyone believe this was the most terrible thing he'd ever heard. "But, Colonel, you can't! They'll lock him away in a tiny little cage and feed him cheap dog food in small portions and they'll only walk him once a day and never play with him and he'll be miserable with the rest of the puppies and dogs and kittens and cats that get left behind by their owners all barking and meowing and howling to be taken home!"

Riza nearly smiled at the boy but simply replied, "I have visited some of the local kennels. I assure you they will take satisfactory care of Black Hayate while we are away."

"It still doesn't seem right…" Alphonse mumbled, a slight blush on his cheeks as he averted his eyes to the window.

The eldest blonde regarded Alphonse a few long moments, the thoughtful look in her eyes speaking of some sort of plot (though that look was almost always there). She couldn't come up with one good reason why it wouldn't work and so she crossed around Roy's desk, stopping in front of the boy and waiting until those bronze eyes were focused on her to ask, "Would you like to take care of Black Hayate until I return, Alphonse?"

The younger brother's eyes widened and blinked a few times, as if expecting to wake up from a dream at any moment and his lips were parted in a silent "o" until something snapped and he finally was capable of speech. "Y-you mean…_me_? Take care of Black Hayate while you and the Major General are in East City?"

Riza nodded.

"You mean take him home with me and feed him and walk him and play with him?"

Another nod, accompanied by a faint smile.

At last Alphonse's face broke out into a blinding smile as his whole countenance just seemed to lift and the woman almost thought he might hug her. "Of course I would!" the younger blonde beamed, practically bouncing.

"Very well, then everything's settled," Riza nodded and turned her gaze to Roy and Edward, "As long as the Major General and your brother don't have any objections."

Edward, who had gone back to work somewhere in the middle of the conversation and was thoroughly engrossed in a book that had somehow made it into his paperwork, barely blinked as he heard his name. "Sure, whatever," he mumbled vaguely, waving off whatever question he hadn't heard as he turned a page.

Roy, however, seemed to have actually been paying attention to the conversation, and looked just a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't that he didn't trust Alphonse -- quite the contrary, in fact -- and he knew that Black Hayate was very well-trained, it was just… Well, he knew from experience that the dog had an unwitting mischievous side; and Edward didn't tend to get along with anything that wasn't his brother. The thought of leaving them alone in his home was enough to make him consider canceling the trip. The look he was getting from the younger brother, however, that look of almost pained hopefulness that had moved even Scar's heart back when Alphonse hadn't even had a face… Well, how could Roy be expected to deny _that_? Though he was beginning to think that the boy did it on purpose.

"Alright."

Alphonse immediately went into a string of thank you's and promises, clutching Riza's hand as he practically lit up the room with his smile.

Over the next three days, all of the details were worked out: Alphonse and Edward were to pick up Black Hayate at the train station when they saw Roy off and Riza wrote out a schedule for the week, including feeding times, walking times, play times, and grooming times. She provided exactly enough dog food for the entire week, a few dog toys, a leash, and a brush and gave a list of appropriate snacks and games.

Edward persisted that he hadn't been told anything about the arrangement and didn't settle down until Alphonse finally spoke up and told his brother that he "ought to pay attention more to other things than himself if he wants to join everyone else in the world of the living."

Later that night, Alphonse made sure he'd made it up to his brother, even though Edward had been apologizing for the rest of the day.

Three days later, Edward, Alphonse, and Roy met Riza and Black Hayate at the Central train station. Goodbyes were exchanged and Roy pressed a kiss to Alphonse's forehead and winked at Ed; both brothers blushed. When the final call came, Riza finally handed over Black Hayate to Alphonse with a small smile, reminding him to take good care of the puppy and that she would return in a week's time.

The whistle blew again and then the two brothers were left alone on the platform with the other family and friends, watching the train take Riza and Roy away and leave them with a puppy.

Both pairs of golden eyes dropped to the husky, sitting on the platform and watching a bit forlornly as his master rode away.

"Well," Alphonse said, breaking the silence and looking not a bit disappointed as he gave a tug on Hayate's leash to get him moving back down the platform, "Let's get home!"

_To be continued…_


	2. Day 1

**Day 1**

I can't believe I finally did it! I have a pet all my own!

Well, that's not entirely true, Black Hayate really belongs to Colonel Hawkeye; but she was kind enough to let me take care of him while she and Roy are out of town! So, for seven whole days I have my own puppy!

He's so sweet too, I can understand why Sergeant Fury picked him up; _and _why Colonel Hawkeye decided to take him in. Black Hayate almost reminds me of how Den was as a puppy, even his coloring is the same. I just hope Hayate's energy and curiosity doesn't get him into the same sort of trouble; it would be a shame for yet someone else to need automail. With the Colonel as his master, though, I can't imagine he would get into _too_ much trouble; I'll just have to try extra hard to not let her down.

Brother still claims that I never asked him about any of this, and, if I did, then I should have made sure that he'd heard me. He says that I was taking advantage of his short attention span which, I guess I was; but then I asked him if he really would have said "no." He blustered for a minute, but then finally gave in and said no, he wouldn't have said no anyway. "But you still should've asked me."

I _should_ really make it up to him. Roy went grocery shopping before he left, so maybe I'll try and cook him a nice dinner, since we've been calling out a lot recently with both of them working late. There should still be some wine left too, and hopefully Hayate will have fallen asleep by then. I'd hate to have to lock him out of our room or have him…interrupt and then just put Brother back into a bad mood.

But it will have to wait until _after _I feed and walk Black Hayate, which I'm certain Brother will grumble about. But if he really has a problem with it, then _he _can take it up with the Colonel.

_To be continued…_


	3. Day 2

**Day 2**

Ahh, what a long day! It feels good to sit and relax; I think even _Brother's _tired.

Though I suppose it didn't help with how late we were up last night…

We apparently forgot that part of Hayate's schedule meant following some of the Colonel's own personal schedule. I never realized just how hard she trains, though I suppose she has to, to be able to keep up with and protect Roy and sometimes even Brother; both of them are quite a handful, and she'd really _have _to train hard to deal with them both in a strictly working environment.

Well, anyway, apparently the Colonel usually wakes up at six for her morning exercises, starting with a six mile jog. Brother didn't want to do it and I would have gone alone, except that it was still dark out and I wanted some company besides Hayate; it's not safe to wander around the city in the dark by yourself! Brother tried to point out that it must be safe because the Colonel did it every morning, but he gave in when he seemed to remember who he was talking about.

The jog didn't turn out to be much of a jog as it was a walk -- neither Brother or I could keep up that kind of pace for six miles. I don't know how Colonel Hawkeye does it every morning! Brother and I were pretty tired by the time we got back, though Hayate didn't seem to be very effected, and I made us all some breakfast before Brother had to go in to work.

I made up for the morning walk by taking Hayate to the park once Brother had left and the sun had come up, not wanting him to feel like I was simply taking the easy way out. I really would have done the jog if I could have! We both had fun at the park though, and we met a lot of nice people and stayed there until about lunchtime.

We picked up lunch on the way to Head Quarters to meet Brother, like I usually do, except we had to eat inside. Apparently Roy left behind a lot of work undone and, in order to keep up with his own work _and _Roy's, Brother had to work through his lunch hour. He said it was alright, though, because if he managed to make the office run more efficiently than Roy, that he'd be able to "show up that lazy smirking know-it-all once and for all." I'm not really sure why he still bothers…

Hayate and I stayed at HQ for a while, though, visiting with the others; I guess it must have been a while since Colonel Hawkeye had brought Hayate into work. Either that or they were just trying to get out of work.

Come to think of it, it was probably the latter. I hope I didn't get them into trouble!

We went back to the park after that, and we stopped on the way there to pick up a Frisbee. Hayate's great at Frisbee catch! I wonder if the Colonel knows. I'll have to mention it to her when she gets back, though I'm not really sure if she's the Frisbee playing type. Oh, maybe I could ask her to let me watch him while she's at work and we can play Frisbee in the park then! I wonder if she'd let me… I'm sure Hayate would enjoy it; he enjoyed it today.

In fact, I nearly had to drag him from the park when it was almost time for Brother to come home.

Actually, Brother called saying he wouldn't be home until later and to go ahead and call out for dinner. That he would just fix himself something when he got in.

But, after finally being able to share such a wonderful night last night, even just being able to eat dinner with someone other than myself, I didn't want to go back to eating alone again. So I did order out but, after feeding and walking Hayate, I took him with me to bring dinner to Brother so we could at least eat together at HQ.

It was nice, even though we were cramped onto the couch in Roy's office; but at least we got to eat together! And Hayate and I didn't leave until Brother finally gave up on the pile of paperwork in Roy's inbox and we walked back home together.

I think I'll have to talk to Roy about doing more of his work, too, while he's around.

_To be continued…_


	4. Day 3

**Day 3**

I had a harder time waking Brother up this morning to come with me to walk Hayate; I think he's really exhausted from all of the work he did yesterday. I talked to him before he left and it didn't sound like he thought he'd be finished today either. I hope he isn't trying to push himself too hard; he just keeps saying that he'll finally be able to show up Roy, but I'm still not sure I entirely believe him.

He tries so hard to keep things from us, even now, especially when he thinks it makes him weak… I suppose I understand it, it's just that he's not very good at it, so he ends up worrying the people that care about him, and sometimes for no good reason…

Hayate and I had a pretty uneventful day otherwise: We spent most of the day at the park, like yesterday, and visited Brother at HQ for lunch and dinner. He was a bit more distracted today, but I think he _did _enjoy the distraction a bit, and not having to walk home alone. He and Roy usually walk home together, but with Roy out of town he would have had to walk alone. Now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't have let him walk home alone anyway, especially with how late he's had to stay at the office.

Well, Hayate seems to be enjoying himself, so maybe we can make this our routine for the rest of the week.

_To be continued…_


	5. Day 4

**Day 4**

I can't believe that Hayate isn't tired after all of this. _I'm _certainly starting to slow down a bit, but, then again, I'm not really used to doing all this either.

I couldn't convince Brother to come on our walk again this morning, but I didn't push him; he really does seem exhausted. I can't really ask him to come with me when I was the one that wanted to take care of Hayate and knowing he has so much work to do.

We did go to work with him today, though. I think everyone got a bit distracted with Hayate around, but the whole point of going was so that I could help Brother with some of the extra work. He didn't go for it at first, stubborn as always, but I think he started warming up once he realized how much headway we were making working together.

I guess after all this time of working alone he forgot how much easier things are when you have someone working _with _you. This just proves to me that, once I'm able to, I need to take the State Exam; I know for sure now that Roy and Brother could use the help.

There was a bit of trouble with Black Hayate today, though. It seems he got a little restless while the rest of us were eating lunch and wreaked a bit of havoc in the cafeteria. Brother wasn't happy at _all_. I don't really blame him for getting upset and I _did _help clean up the mess, but I think he may have overreacted a little; he barely spoke to me for the rest of the day and kept glaring at Hayate if he got within three feet of him.

I already asked him if he would come with us on our walk tomorrow… He's not going to.

_To be continued…_


	6. Day 5

**Day 5**

This is bad; Brother's _really _upset now.

Hayate and I were supposed to spend the day at HQ today like yesterday, but we were barely able to stay until lunchtime.

I guess Hayate got a little too overexcited today with everyone playing with him. He made a mess out of the outer office; by the time Brother and I got out there it looked like a battle zone. Brother wouldn't even let me help clean it up or even _apologize_, he just told me to get Hayate out of there. I know Havoc and Fury and the others are going to be in so much trouble…

It's almost dinner-time now, and I haven't heard a word from Brother. I still need to walk Hayate, but when I get back, I think I'll cook something for dinner for when Brother gets home. I just hope he doesn't stay out too late…

_To be continued…_


	7. Day 6

**Day 6**

Well, today was the last full day that Black Hayate's going to be with us. It going to be sad, not having him around anymore, but, at the same time, I think it's probably for the best.

Brother came with me to walk Hayate this morning, though. He didn't say anything, but I know he was sorry for what happened yesterday; he knows I know too.

I cooked him a big breakfast to make sure he knew it was okay, and then Hayate and I walked him to work. He offered to let us stay, but I think Hayate's better off outside than inside; I can see now why Colonel Hawkeye doesn't often bring him to work with her. We spent the day at the park though, visiting Brother for lunch and then dinner again and walking home with him.

He actually seemed to get along with Hayate today; he even played Frisbee with him during lunch! It's good to see him smiling again when it's been so rare all week. He was even talking during lunch about how he can't believe Roy manages to get all this work done when he looks like he never even lifts a finger. Brother's been so stressed trying to keep up and I think he'll be just as glad as I will be when Roy comes back and he can go back to only worrying about his _own _work.

Hayate's sleeping downstairs tonight. I feel a little bad, leaving him alone like that, but I think Brother and I really need the time to ourselves tonight. We'll be meeting Roy and the Colonel at the train station tomorrow after Brother gets out of work, and then we'll turn Black Hayate back over to Colonel Hawkeye. I'm sure they'll both be happy to see each other again.

_To be continued…_


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue

* * *

**

The train Central City train station was much more crowded than it had been at the beginning of the week. Friends, family members, business partners, and chauffeurs crowded the platform, waiting for the train to pull in.

Edward and Alphonse had gotten there an half hour before they knew the train was scheduled to come in and were seated on a bench near the station building with Black Hayate sitting patiently at their feet and trying to keep from getting stepped on.

"I never said I wanted a puppy," the younger blonde argued, rolling his eyes affectionately at his brother.

"Good!" Edward replied, just barely avoiding getting side-swiped by a suitcase, "'Cause you're not getting one. _Especially_ after what happened Thursday."

Alphonse couldn't believe his brother was bringing that up _again_, though he was cut off by the sound of a whistle and the rumble of the incoming train coming closer. He looked up to see the crowd gathered on the platform slowly shift as one mass away from the edge as the train came into view and slowed to a stop.

Then the crowd turned into a colony of ants, swarming the train like a dropped sandwich. People were pushing through the pedestrian traffic, some trying to leave the train while others were trying to get on, and yet still other were simply standing there, either waiting for someone to get off the train, or waiting for a different train altogether.

Ed was quickly drowned in the crowd and was forced to climb up onto the bench they'd been sitting on, while Al held onto Black Hayate, making sure he didn't get lost in the confusion.

"Can you see them?" he called to his brother over the noise.

"No, not yet… Wait! There's Riza; Roy's right behind her. Let's go!"

All of a sudden, Alphonse felt a hand wrap around his arm and tug him through the crowd in the general direction of the train. He could only assume it was Ed at first but, soon enough, the sheer volume of people on the platform dwindled as they either boarded the train or left the station completely. Soon, the younger blonde was able to make out the two figures that Ed had seen, and he smiled, letting go of Hayate with one hand so he could wave and grab their attention.

The two Military officers met them halfway -- Riza smiling as she releaved Alphonse of the puppy, and Roy smirking at the half-glad to see him and half-pissed off look on Edward's face.

"Welcome home," the youngest blonde greeted, smiling brightly.

Roy gestured that they should move off the still-somewhat crowded platform and conversation was put on hold until they wouldn't have to shout over the noise.

"Thank you for watching Hayate, Alphonse," Riza said when they were in relative quiet of the station building, "I trust he didn't give you any trouble."

The brothers exchanged a glance, but Edward spoke up before the younger could even draw a breath, "Nah, he was alright."

Alphonse practically gaped at his brother, who only winked at him. He smiled though, and shook his head, "That's not entirely true," the younger blonde corrected, "He did give us a bit of trouble, but it's alright. We fixed it."

Riza frowned a little at the puppy, letting all of them know that _some _punishment was in store.

"Really, it's alright," Ed piped in, grinning almost deviously as he glanced sidelong at his little brother, "After all, I think it's finally changed Al's mind about getting a puppy."

"Brother," Alphonse sighed, rolling is eyes again at the older boy, "I already told you: I _don't _want a puppy. Dogs are a lot of work, I know that. And, especially with _your_ temper, it wouldn't work." The younger boy turned away before Edward could respond to that, grinning widely as he shoved his hands into his pockets and started away from the train station. "That's why it would work so much better to get a pet that pretty much takes care of itself; like a cat!"

_-End_


End file.
